Discover the Hidden Wonders of Saint Fotini’s Cave in Avdou!
The Monastery of Saint Anna and the Cave of Saint Fotini were hermitages located on Mount Louloudaki, in the vicinity of the village of Avdou Pediados. According to tradition, Saint Fotini was looking for a quiet and secluded place away from other people, so that she could dedicate the rest of her life to God.However, while she could not find the place she wanted, the Virgin Mary appeared and, performing a miracle, opened the cave in the rock so that Saint Fotini could enter. According to tradition, women who have problems conceiving children, by praying in the cave and drinking the holy water that drips from the ceiling in a jar, conceive and always have boys.
Saint Fotini in Avdou is also mentioned in historical records as a monastery. The Cave of Agia Fotini was famous as a hideout during the Cretan Revolutions. , the temple is easily accessible and well-known to many people, since the road reaches the church of Agia Anna and Agios Ioannis Theologos and from there a well-shaped path begins to the cave, which is the bed of a former underground river.
The path reaches the hall that functions as a sanctuary, with a jar filled with “holy water” dripping from the ceiling in the middle of the hall. Above the sanctuary rises an imposing stalagmite 10m high with a small hole above it.
This tiny hole was the only passage for speleologists in 1999 and 2000 to another labyrinthine cave behind, with many galleries and rooms with incredibly beautiful cave decoration and lakes of water, which increased the known length of the cave's routes from just 30m to about 700m!
A large festival is held in the square in front of Agia Anna on the fourth Sunday after Easter.